Bubbe's Place: Stories

Pay your taxes with a smile

When I had an opportunity to help my own relatives I did. Zayde and I sponsored a family of five. I sent them an invitation to come to America. I paid fees to the U.S. State Department, to the Pennsylvania State Department, to the City of Philadelphia, to the Russian Embassy etc. I signed forms. I guaranteed that I would keep them off of welfare for five years if they couldn't or didn't go to work. The presidents of two banks filled out forms testifying that I was solvent and honest. Since the three adults were all musicians that was a bit scary. 1 paid HI AS $500 for each adult and $300 for each child for their assistance. Meanwhile the cousins were paying exit fees and airplane fares. Zayde and I met them for the first time when they arrived at the Kennedy Airport in New York. We took them home to live with us until they got jobs and their own apartment.

Later when the cousins established themselves here in America they wanted to pay Zayde and me back all the money we had spent. I-would not accept any money. Instead I told them to use the money to bring out other Russian Jews to freedom in America. They did.

My parents always blessed America and the good fortune that allowed them to become American citizens. My father told us, "Pay your taxes with a smile! No country has ever been so good to her Jews." My mother and father always voted. They bought bonds. They praised America daily. Just before my mother left Russia in 1923, she was put in jail for reading illegal books (the Bible and Zionist pamphlets). When she was released from jail, she was advised to leave the country. She was told," Next time it won't be jail. It will be Siberia." She taught me to appreciate this country where everyone can go to school and learn to read, where everyone has the freedom to read every thing.